Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 12

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Being Competent (2)
Lee Myung-soo straightened his back slowly.
He gave my shoulder a light pat and continued speaking.
“So go ahead. Since you’ve worked hard to become a prosecutor, you should do what you want to do.”
I smiled quietly.
There was only one reason I didn’t want to go to Seoul.
A future confined in the cage that Kim Young-jun had constructed for me.
I didn’t want to live within it.
I’d rather stay here, resolve unsolved cases, and grow my strength freely.
But now, one more reason had emerged.
‘Lee Myung-soo….’
What I’d said this morning about wanting to learn closer to him wasn’t a lie.
But now that desire had grown stronger.
Being with this man gave me the feeling that I wouldn’t have to worry about being stabbed in the back.
I bowed slowly.
“I don’t think the location matters. I’ll stay here a bit longer.”
“…Stubborn fool.”
Lee Myung-soo shook his head and stopped trying to persuade me.
He shook his head and let out a sigh.
“Today’s lecture is over. Kill time however you like and then leave.”
As Lee Myung-soo turned to leave, Shin Jong-seung entered his field of vision.
Lee Myung-soo clicked his tongue and continued speaking.
“This is the kind of guy who should stay.”
“…!”
With those words, Lee Myung-soo left the conference room.
The door slammed shut, and Shin Jong-seung’s face flushed all the way to his neck.
‘…Should stay?’
It meant he was saying Shin Jong-seung was too stupid to belong anywhere else.
Shin Jong-seung’s fists trembled slightly.
“Tch.”
There was nothing I could say in a moment like this.
I left the conference room without even greeting him, and Lee So-hee quietly gathered her things as well.
Shin Jong-seung turned his gaze toward her.
“So-hee.”
“I feel like I’m falling further behind.”
“What?”
“I feel like I’m falling behind Prosecutor Kim Seo-jin. I need to work harder. No, I need to seek out what I can learn from him. Otherwise, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to catch up.”
You can tell just by looking at her eyes.
Lee So-hee acknowledges Seo Jin.
And she wants to stand beside him.
Shin Jong-seung watched her departing figure and bit his lip hard.
‘Damn it.’
Yet Shin Jong-seung felt it too.
Seo Jin was exceptional.
Several steps ahead of himself.
Sometimes he felt like she was a senior from a distant past.
He couldn’t help but acknowledge it.
‘It wasn’t always like this, was it?’
Seo Jin changed after returning from medical leave.
Her personality and skills transformed radically.
But humans are creatures of adaptation.
At first, the changed Seo Jin seemed strange, but now he was growing accustomed to this version of her.
Shin Jong-seung clutched his head.
‘I’m going to lose my mind.’
*
*
*
“Yes, Father.”
I walked down the corridor while speaking with my father on the phone.
-You’re staying there? Come to Seoul. Your uncle has that much influence.
“No. I’d like to stay here a bit longer.”
-Seo Jin…
“It’s only just beginning. I want to do this on my own strength.”
-On your own strength?
“Yes, not through my uncle’s influence.”
Father fell silent for a moment.
Then he laughed loudly.
-That’s right, that’s my son! Hahaha!
“Thank you for understanding.”
-But you must tell me when things get difficult. I can listen. Understood?
“Yes, I understand. I’ll lean on you when things get tough.”
The call ended.
I exhaled softly and slipped my phone into my pocket.
‘That’s settled.’
I no longer had to live in Prosecutor Kim Young-jun’s cage.
Now I could spread my wings freely, just as I was doing.
I arrived at the Records Storage Room.
To avoid being dismissed as mere luck, I needed to continue demonstrating my abilities.
The first step was unsolved cases.
Even if I touched them and failed, there was no risk.
It’s a case that has failed every single time until now.
But if I succeed….
‘I can do this.’
I pulled out the case files from ten years ago—the tragedy that occurred in Dongnam County, the Yoo A-sung case.
Yoo A-sung, a third-grader who had gone to cram school, was found dead in a nearby mountain area two weeks later.
The body of the deceased Yoo A-sung bore traces of sexual assault, torture, and blunt force trauma, and despite the police reviewing all surrounding CCTV footage, they couldn’t find even a shadow of the perpetrator.
I ran my hand through my hair as I read through the files.
Over the past decade, there were 10,064 murder cases with a 98.2% clearance rate.
That’s truly a high figure.
But a prosecutor shouldn’t be satisfied with a high clearance rate.
I must grieve over the 196 unsolved cases.
That terrifying night when a ten-year-old child wept in terror.
The beast who committed murder still walks freely through this world.
I cannot let that stand.
That monster must taste a terrible hell.
I spread out all the related files across the floor.
And I read through them meticulously, not missing a single word.
Of course, there was a small hope that my psychometry ability might activate and show me the past while reading, but the world remained as it was.
“…What are you doing?”
A familiar voice reached me along with a subtle fragrance of perfume.
I looked up to see Lee So-hee standing there.
She moved her lips as she looked at me.
“Yoo A-sung? Why suddenly this?”
*
*
*
“Is Seo Jin coming to Seoul?”
At that moment, Kim Yun-hwan sat before Kim Young-jun, the prosecutor general of Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office.
Transfer orders were being prepared smoothly.
While not a final decision, Seo Jin had been assigned to Dongnam County.
So Kim Yun-hwan asked again.
He had heard from Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun that Seo Jin would be called to Seoul.
“I heard it was Dongnam County.”
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun sank back into the sofa and opened his mouth.
“It wasn’t supposed to go all the way to Dongnam County… but since Koo Sang-jin fell apart, JTJ’s pride got scratched too. It seems like they took revenge for that. Touching a trainee prosecutor’s assignment is nothing to them.”
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun knew that JTJ was interfering with Seo Jin’s transfer.
But he pretended not to know.
“Do you know why I pretended not to know?”
Kim Yun-hwan tilted his head and thought about it, but couldn’t come up with a clear answer.
“…I don’t know.”
Kim Young-jun chuckled and brought a cigarette to his lips.
Then, exhaling a plume of smoke, he spoke.
“Your uncle will call you soon. He’ll ask, ‘Couldn’t we bring Seo Jin up to Seoul?'”
“Huh? Didn’t you say you’d agree to it?”
“Yun-hwan, you should answer such requests as slowly as possible.”
“…Why?”
“Because it’s a debt.”
Kim Yun-hwan nodded as if he understood.
Kim Young-jun tapped ash from his cigarette and continued.
“But that’s not the end of it. I’m going to place Kim Seo-jin under you.”
“Under me?”
In truth, Kim Yun-hwan already knew this much.
But he feigned ignorance, widening his eyes.
Kim Young-jun spoke.
“You’re just a regular prosecutor—you’re not in a position to have anyone under you. So your chief prosecutor will bring Kim Seo-jin and tell him: since he’s just finished his probation, you should look after him for a while.”
“…”
“Train him naturally to take your orders, naturally to follow you, and to be helpless without you.”
This was Kim Young-jun’s true plan.
He wanted Seo Jin to dance in the palm of Kim Yun-hwan’s hand.
Kim Young-jun was now setting up his son’s future.
He crushed out his cigarette and spoke.
“Do I need to explain further?”
“No, sir.”
Kim Yun-hwan smiled broadly.
The memory of being humiliated at Seo Jin’s house days ago came rushing back.
It seemed he would be able to repay that debt in full.
Just then, his phone vibrated with a buzzing sound.
The caller ID read “Brother.”
Kim Young-jun smiled as if he’d been waiting for this, and brought the phone to his ear.
Then he heard Seo Jin’s Father’s voice.
-Seo Jin says he’ll just stay in Dongnam County. I told him to come to Seoul and that I’d help him out, but he’s already saying he doesn’t want to rely on his uncle. That boy.
Seo Jin’s Father’s voice was filled with pride in his son.
-I’d like it if Seo Jin were in Seoul too. But when he says such things, how can I persuade him? So I didn’t push it further. Right? Struggling in a harsh place at a young age is a tonic for life, a tonic. Hahahaha!
Listening to the laughter coming through the receiver, Kim Young-jun’s brow furrowed.
His eyes fell on his son sitting before him, Kim Yun-hwan.
And Kim Yun-hwan, grinning away, suddenly looked foolish to him.
‘Seo Jin said he’d stay? But this fool…’
He’d whined about not wanting to go to the military, and he’d complained about being assigned to Gyeongsangdo as a probationary prosecutor.
Yet Seo Jin had grown once more in his place of exile, having defeated attorney Koo Sang-jin.
Suddenly, Kim Yun-hwan looked contemptible to him.
“Well, anyway, thanks for looking out for me.”
“Yeah, see you later.”
Kim Young-jun set down his phone with a hardened expression.
In front of him, Kim Yun-hwan was chuckling.
“Should we put them on cyberstalking cases full-time until they behave? These bastards have such weird nicknames….”
Kim Yun-hwan’s voice trailed off mid-sentence.
Kim Young-jun’s eyebrows were furrowed.
That was a telltale sign that Kim Young-jun was in a considerably foul mood.
And Kim Young-jun’s voice flowed out quietly.
“Get out.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kim Yun-hwan rose from his seat with a rustling sound and bowed his head.
Then he carefully left the prosecutor’s office.
“Stupid bastard.”
With that remark, Kim Young-jun rested his chin on his hand and fell into deep thought.
‘He’s staying behind?’
Declaring that he would stand on his own two feet was admirable and worthy of praise.
But….
‘Is there anything to learn in that place?’
Now was the time to shed the title of trainee and learn whatever came his way.
But there was nothing to learn in Dongnam County.
‘Insane bastard.’
Seo Jin had made headlines after destroying lawyer Koo Sang-jin.
He should have moved closer to the center riding that wave.
But now there was no opportunity to move to the center.
No one in the upper ranks favored prosecutors from Dongnam County, and eventually he would have to rotate through the periphery and hang up his badge to become a lawyer or open his own practice at an appropriate time.
Kim Young-jun’s gaze turned toward the window.
‘Kim Seo-jin, you have nothing to do in that place. You made the wrong choice. How dare you defy my will? You’ll be buried, forever….’
*
*
*
“I’m thinking of reinvestigating the Yoo A-sung case.”
During lunch, I sat with Lee So-hee in a small coffee shop.
Lee So-hee was quite beautiful.
Her black hair, falling just past her shoulders, and her pale skin, so translucent it seemed luminous, were captivating.
Men passing by glanced back at her, and even women couldn’t help but turn their heads.
Lee So-hee blinked her already large eyes at my words.
“Yoo A-sung?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded.
It was the first time I had sat face-to-face with Lee So-hee like this, yet there was no awkwardness between us.
The only discomfort came from the stares of those around us, glancing at her.
“Why all of a sudden?”
It was a case that had remained buried beneath the surface for ten years.
She seemed curious about why I would bother to dredge it up.
“Because I’m staying here. Because I want to do something while I’m at this office. Because I can’t stand the thought of that beast roaming free. And finally, because a prosecutor wants to see a criminal’s face—does there need to be a reason?”
“It’s a shame that I’m seeing this side of you just as my internship is ending and we’re about to part ways. If I’d known you had this kind of personality, I would have gotten closer to you.”
“You’re with the central office, aren’t you? We’ll see each other sometimes.”
At my words, Lee So-hee pulled the straw from her lips and laughed quietly.
Watching her, I clapped my hands together and stood up.
“Then I’ll head out first.”
“Where are you going? Aren’t you going inside?”
“I want to meet the detective who investigated Yoo A-sung.”
Lee So-hee spoke urgently.
“Can I come too? Can I go with you?”
“Huh?”
“You know, there’s nothing for me to do if I go back to the Local Prosecutor’s Office. I want to see how you move, how you work.”
Lee So-hee wanted to see and learn what I did and how I did it.
It was sudden, but there was something about the way I acted so boldly and recklessly that she envied.
And that yearning was evident in her eyes.
I looked at Lee So-hee for a moment, then nodded.
“Sure, then.”
*
*
*
“Who is this beautiful woman?”
Lee Jung-woo, who had been waiting in front of Dongnam Police Station, whispered with exaggerated excitement.
“Who is she! You’re a—”
“A what?”
“A real beauty.”
Though I didn’t understand why he attached that prefix, Lee Jung-woo glanced at Lee So-hee standing beside me and grinned widely.
I smiled slightly and introduced her.
“She’s my classmate. We’re doing our internship together at the Local Prosecutor’s Office.”
“Your classmate? So she’s a prosecutor? A prosecutor prettier than a movie actress? And smart too? That’s practically cheating!”
Lee So-hee bowed her head respectfully toward Lee Jung-woo, who was whispering urgently in my ear.
“I’m Lee So-hee, prosecutor at Dongnam District Prosecutors’ Office.”
“Oh my… I’m Lee Jung-woo. I work in the violent crimes unit here. Please feel free to call anytime if you need anything. Ha ha!”
Lee So-hee and I followed Lee Jung-woo’s guidance to a break room inside the police station.
A man in his late forties, who had been drinking canned coffee, stood up when he saw me.
He extended his thick hand to shake mine.
“Detective Jung Min-gu.”
This man was the one who had never let go of the Yoo A-sung case until the very end.
And Seo Jin intended to inherit Detective Jung Min-gu’s records and resolve the Yoo A-sung case.
“I’m Kim Seo-jin.”
Seo Jin grasped the hand Detective Jung Min-gu extended with courtesy.
But in that moment, my vision drained into black and white.
My psychometry ability had activated.
“I’ve been living with remorse. So why do you keep digging into it?”
It was an alley in a residential neighborhood.
On a dark night with a swaying streetlamp, a man twisted his face into a scowl.
In the man’s hand was Detective Jung Min-gu’s ring.
“Damn it.”
The man’s savage teeth flashed.
He dropped the ring to the ground with a flick and brushed off his hands.
Then he touched his abdomen.
A sharp sashimi knife was visible at his waist.
“Keep it up. I’ll kill you. I’ve been living righteously all this time and I’ve prayed too, and God said He’d forgive me, so why is this bastard acting up! Who does Yoo A-sung think he is!”
The man left.
Moments later, someone appeared, looking around the spot.
It was Detective Jung Min-gu.
Detective Jung Min-gu found the ring lying on the ground and tilted his head in confusion.
Then he opened his mouth with a frightened voice.
“…Why is this lying here?”
Before my eyes, Detective Jung Min-gu appeared intact once more.
Looking at my hand, the ring was on my finger.
Seo Jin looked at him and asked in a hollow voice.
“…Detective, were you still investigating the Yoo A-sung case?”
Detective Jung Min-gu’s eyes twisted.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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